Friday, March 6, 2009

Honey Ginger Tofu

This was a recipe from Rachael Ray’s $40 A Day cookbook, and it just didn’t work. It’s entirely possible that this was my fault. I replaced the chicken with tofu, and didn’t squeeze it out beforehand, so it didn’t crisp up as much as I wanted it to. I also replaced the cornstarch with arrowroot powder, because that’s what I have. The decision was between Arrowroot and Agar Agar (GD forbid I could find corn starch…somehow the other two alternatives are better available where I shop) long story short…the sauce never thickened. Not one bit. Apparently I’ve got some things to learn about arrowroot usage. The vegetables were also supposed to be cooked for about 2 minutes….I may have accidentally left them in longer then that. When I first grabbed the honey from the fridge I couldn’t squeeze anything out of it, so I nuked. I nuked too long…the honey became liquid. Undoubtedly this contributed to my “non-thick” sauce.I also didn’t have the mint or cilantro to garnish, since without thinking, I finished both off in the coconut chutney that went with the samosas.

Long story short, with the Gomasio and pickled ginger mixed in, this was ok. It was barely ok though, and I wouldn’t even give it a decent. It’s entirely possible the failure was on my shoulders. But my biggest issue with this was a blandness of flavor, not necessarily a lack of texture, so the recipe may also suck. I’m not sure where the issue lies, but I don’t think I’m motivated to try it again. Not everything can be a success….

2 Comments:

Sounds like there may have been one too many substitutions for this to work. Also, if arrowroot is cooked too long, it breaks the starches down, so it no longer thickens properly--could that be what happened?

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Lots of REALLY good food. Mostly Vegan, all Vegetarian. While there will be some dairy and eggs (ok...I admit it...I can be a lacto-ovo veggie at times) for the most part if it DID or COULD walk, I don't eat it.